We didn’t have to do much to prepare for Kloe’s first heart surgery other than to keep her weight up and keep her healthy. She was sleeping 22 hours of the day and wasn’t an active baby like most were at her age. It was hard to hold her because she always had tubes in her nose, but that didn’t stop us. We were driving up to Salt Lake every three weeks to check Kloe’s heart to make sure no damage would be done while they were waiting for her to gain more weight. It was exhausting, but it was what had to be done.
Every time we would go up for our appointments they would tell us some signs we needed to watch for as Kloe would go into heart failure. Of coarse as you should know how I react to thing by now this made me worry and I closely watched her everyday to see if she had any of the signs which were irregular breathing, turning grey, fast heart beat, and sweating.
For the first little while things were going pretty smooth and I was just happy to be out of the hospital and home with my whole family together. Right when I thought things were going to settle down and I could have a few moments to breathe we found out that Kody had torn his ACL while we were in Salt Lake and he needed it repaired. We figured sense we had already reached out max out of pocket for the year with Kloe’s first hospital trip we might as well get Kody’s knee fixed too. Kody has his knee repaired on April 24th 2013.
We only had one week to rest up because Kloe’s heart surgery was set for April 30th 2013. Not a lot of down time but Kloe was showing signs of heart failure by loosing the color in her cheeks. I remember waking up one morning and noticing that Kloe looked grey and my heart stopped for a moment. We were told that this would happen as surgery got close but it was just another reminder that we would have to watch our child be so sick before she could be on the road to a full recovery.
We took Briley to Kody’s parents house and headed up for Kloe’s surgery. We had to go through the pre-opp tests and make sure everything looked ok and then we headed to the hotel to get some rest before the big day.
I have never been a very light traveler and having to add all of Kloe’s medical supplies just made it worse. So here I am with a baby, a carseat, a baby bed, three bags, Kloe’s feeding supplies, and a husband on crutches who can’t carry anything with a hotel room on the fourth floor. Thank goodness for those carts they have to help you carry all you stuff because I already had to take three trips to the car. We were able to get some rest and arrived at the hospital for Kloe’s operation.
We took her into the cath lab and layer her on the table with the nurses and had to just walk away. This time seemed easier because they wouldn’t be opening her up. They were just going up through the main arty in her leg to plug her PDA valve in her heart. The wait however was and always is awful. There isn’t enough things in the whole world to search on the internet or games to play that can keep my mind off the whats really happening around me. They also have you wait in this awful room where the chairs aren’t comfortable and you feel like a fish in a tank with all the people staring at you but at least the provide snacks.
The whole procedure took about two hours and then her doctor came and got us. She took us back to these computers where we were able to watch a video of Kloe’s procedure. It was pretty cool to watch what they had just done and actually see her blood in her heart flow the right direction. Modern medicine just blows my mind every time we go through a different surgery. It just amazes me what they can do and how well each surgeon has performed. Kloe was finally moved down to the recovery where we were able to see her for the first time. It is not easy seeing you baby all swollen and with a breathing tube but I always tell myself it is for the right reasons. After a hour or so she was moved down the the ICU where we then spent two nights and three days. Only one parent could stay in the room with her so Kody was able to go back and get some rest, I was right where I wanted to be though. Although the pull out couch and the constant beeping of the machines makes it impossible to sleep I have such peace of mind when Kloe is at the hospital because I know if anything did go wrong there is a nurse five feet away from her room at all times.
We made it through another bump in the road and although we weren’t expecting to stay that many days we were able to go home with a healthier little girl. There are always ups and downs in the road we travel and although we are traveling the long way around we sure do enjoy the experiences and take to heart the things we are learning.
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